Hewlett-Packard, ScanJet 7450c (c7710a-c7713a)

The purpose of this guide is to assist a potential user by my personal rating of the HP 7400 series ScanJet. The Hewlett-Packard Scanjet 7400 series was introduced in 1998.  It was introduced into the retail market as HP's "high end,"  professional-business scanner.  It offered the first of HP's 2400x2400 dpi resolution.  This model replaced the 6300 series with an  increase in resolution, a slimmer design, a legal sized scanning bed as well as an improved Precision Scan Pro software.  It also offered a 50pp automatic document feeder on the 7450c-7490c as well as improved SCSI connection and HS USB.  SCSI kit was included with the 7490c model as well as improved, bundled productivity software.  Independant testing confirmed that the 7400 series was an improvement over the already praised 6200 and 6300 series of professional scanners.  Besides the changes to the resolution, there were also mechanical changes in design to the automatic document feeder and its' operation.  The paper feed on the 6200-6300 was driven by plastic "flaps" located in the entry to the paper feed.  Unfortunately, after prolonged use the flaps could become bent causing misfeed, or nonfeed of the paper into the scanner.  The 7400 series offered a change by initiating a "roller system" to affect the paper feed mechanism.  Overall, the 7400 ScanJet received higher than average reviews.  The only negative offered by many rating systems was concerining the automatic document feeder and the frequency of misfeeds and paper jams within the feeder itself.  However, after continued use, insuring paper integrity, positioning and using non-lightweight papers the document feeder could provide the user with unaltered operations.  Personally, I have used both the 6200 and 6300 scanners and have had positive results.  I "upgraded" to the 7450c about two years ago and have been extremely satisfied with the quality and speed of the scanner iteself.  I find the software easy to use and to understand.  The built in Optical Character Recognition of the "installation software" is basic, but yet satisfactory for basic word document editing.  Myself, I found it much more satisfactory to "upgrade" the Read Iris Basic OCR software to the Professional version.  In comparison to the ScanJet 8200, presonally the 8250 I find the 7450c far superior.  I used the 8250 for about six weeks and found the software complicated, speed of the scanner slower, more misfeeds with the ADF, total misfeeds using the duplex feature and the scan quality much poorer.  I resold the 8250 and have gone back to using a 7450c. Other independant computer testing organizations agree with my own determinations and comparisons. Please note that the 7400 series scanners may be considered somewhat loud when operating. This sound will also increase as you increase the scanning resolution. In no way, does this sound deter from the operation of the scanner, or the quality of scans.